'Try Her in Bed': How Modeling Agents Used Career Promises to Funnel Women to Jeffrey Epstein

On January 30, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice released 3.5 million pages of documents, 180,000 images, and 2,000 videos related to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein [1]. Among the most disturbing findings: a modeling agent named Ramsey Elkholy sent Epstein hundreds of emails over nearly a decade, describing women's bodies, their financial desperation, and their willingness to have sex — and at one point begged the convicted sex offender to "PLEASE just try her in bed" [2].

The Elkholy emails are not an isolated case. The DOJ release has exposed a web of modeling agents, scouts, and agency executives whose correspondence with Epstein reveals a systematic pattern: professionals with authority over young women's careers used that power to introduce them to a man already convicted of sex offenses.

Source: DOJ / BBC / NPR / CBS News

Data as of Mar 1, 2026CSV

The Emails: Scale, Content, and Legal Origin

The documents were released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act (H.R. 4405), passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate in November 2025 and signed into law by President Donald Trump on November 19, 2025 [3]. The Act required the DOJ to publish all unclassified records related to the Epstein investigation in a searchable and downloadable format within 30 days. More than 500 attorneys and reviewers contributed to the identification and review process, with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York certifying compliance with court orders protecting victim-identifying information [4].

Elkholy appears in 3,026 documents in the DOJ release and exchanged over 1,400 direct emails with Epstein between 2009 and 2017 [5]. The correspondence began with a Facebook friend request on October 14, 2009, and continued until shortly before Epstein's death in August 2019 [2]. Much of the correspondence revolved around access to female models.

In one 2011 exchange, Elkholy described a woman in her 20s who was "desperate for cash" and wrote: "Dear Jeffrey PLEASE just try her in bed" [2]. In another email, he told Epstein: "If you're taste is anything like mine you will want to tear her clothes off the minute you see her" [5]. He also wrote of one woman: "I really want you to meet her, in my opinion she is the best girl I have sent you. She's a gift" [5].

The emails further reveal that Elkholy used deceptive framing, telling women that visits to Epstein were for "castings" rather than disclosing the actual nature of the meetings [5]. He also discussed joint ownership of Brazilian modeling agencies — specifically Joy Models in São Paulo — and suggested that he and Epstein could meet more women by investing in fashion and modeling businesses in Brazil [2][5].

Elkholy's Professional Background and Response

In the 2010s, Elkholy worked as a model agent and scout [2]. He now describes himself as an anthropologist and musician, founder of an electronic music collective called Monotronic, with collaborators including Joe Jackson and Dweezil Zappa [5]. He also pursued business deals involving L'Officiel fashion magazine and brands associated with Limited Brands [5].

Elkholy's attorney, Bruce Rosen, told the BBC that his client "did not realize at the time that Epstein was such a manipulator and sexual predator" and was "star-struck" [5]. Elkholy told the BBC he regretted the language in some emails and his association with Epstein [2]. In March 2026, Elkholy sent a cease-and-desist letter to Digital Music News over its coverage of the emails [6].

No criminal charges have been filed against Elkholy. He has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing by prosecutors.

A Network of Modeling Industry Intermediaries

Elkholy is far from the only modeling figure exposed in the files. The DOJ release has named several others whose document footprints are even larger.

Source: DOJ Epstein Files / BBC / Digital Music News

Data as of Mar 1, 2026CSV

Faith Kates, founder of Next Management — one of the most powerful modeling agencies in the world — appears in over 5,000 documents [7]. A Guardian investigation based on the files found that Kates maintained a nearly 40-year friendship with Epstein and used her position to introduce models on her roster to the convicted sex offender [7]. In 2011, Epstein sent Kates a numbered list of women's names; she responded within hours: "I can get 2 that's what you asked me for stand by" [7].

The files also reveal financial entanglement. Beginning in 2015, Epstein offered Kates a secret $6 million loan to acquire Next's remaining shares from Golden Gate Capital, with instructions that his involvement remain concealed [7]. Around 2010, Epstein proposed purchasing a $5 million property for Kates and her family [7].

Kates quietly departed Next Management in late 2025. The agency stated that her relationship with Epstein "was completely and absolutely unknown to Next management and its top executives" [8]. Kates' attorney maintains she never endangered models and that Epstein manipulated those around him [7].

Daniel Siad, a Swedish-French modeling scout previously unknown to the public, appears in more than 1,000 documents [9]. Siad operated across Europe, forwarding profiles, photographs, and sometimes videos of potential models to Epstein. His scouting activities spanned the late 2000s to at least 2017 and included locations in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Latvia, South Africa, Morocco, Cuba, and elsewhere [9].

In March 2026, a Swedish former model named Ebba Karlsson filed a complaint in France accusing Siad of rape and human trafficking, saying she was lured under the pretext of a career opportunity before finding herself trapped in southern France in 1990 at the age of 20 [10]. Siad has not been charged.

Jean-Luc Brunel, a French model agent who ran MC2 Model Management, was long alleged to have recruited girls from Eastern Europe, South America, and France for Epstein. Virginia Roberts Giuffre alleged in a 2014 court filing that Brunel sent 12-year-old girls from France to Epstein [11]. The DOJ files reveal that Brunel was negotiating cooperation with federal prosecutors as early as February 2016 [12]. He died by suicide in Paris's La Santé Prison in February 2022 while being held on charges of rape, sexual assault, criminal conspiracy, and human trafficking involving minors [11].

The files also show that Elkholy was in direct contact with Brunel [2], suggesting overlapping networks among Epstein's modeling industry associates.

Comparison to Documented Recruitment Methods

The email correspondence mirrors patterns documented in the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in December 2021 of sex trafficking and conspiracy. Maxwell used promises of career advancement, access to wealth, and social prestige to recruit young women and girls for Epstein [11].

The modeling agents' approach followed a similar template but with an additional tool: professional authority over the women's careers. Elkholy framed visits to Epstein as "castings" [5]. Kates used her role as head of a major agency to make introductions seem routine [7]. Siad forwarded professional portfolios directly to Epstein [9]. In each case, the professional relationship created a power imbalance that the women had limited ability to challenge without risking their careers.

The language in the emails — describing women as "gifts," commenting on their bodies, and noting their financial desperation — reflects what prosecutors in the Maxwell trial characterized as the commodification of young women within Epstein's network [2][5].

Legal Exposure and Statute of Limitations

The legal question of whether these emails constitute criminal solicitation is complex. Federal sex trafficking statutes (18 U.S.C. § 1591) criminalize knowingly recruiting, enticing, or obtaining a person for a commercial sex act through force, fraud, or coercion [13]. The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 added human trafficking offenses as RICO predicates, meaning a pattern of such conduct could support racketeering charges [13].

However, the statute of limitations presents a significant obstacle. Civil claims under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act carry a 10-year statute of limitations [13]. For criminal RICO charges, at least one predicate act must have occurred within five years of indictment. With the most recent Elkholy emails dating to 2017, federal prosecutors would face arguments that the window has closed or is closing rapidly.

A defense attorney would likely argue several points: the women introduced by Elkholy were legal adults; the emails, however graphic, do not by themselves prove force, fraud, or coercion as defined under federal trafficking statutes; and the chain of custody of the emails — released by DOJ from Epstein's seized devices — could be challenged on authentication grounds if Elkholy contests their accuracy or completeness. Elkholy's attorney has already framed his client as someone who was himself manipulated by Epstein [5].

No prosecutors have publicly indicated that charges against Elkholy, Kates, or Siad are forthcoming.

Industry Fallout and the Wasserman Case

The DOJ release has had immediate professional consequences beyond the individuals directly named. Casey Wasserman, a Hollywood talent agency mogul, announced in February 2026 that he was selling his eponymous agency after the files disclosed emails exchanged between him and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2003 that were described as flirty and risqué [14]. Wasserman has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing.

The announcement followed a client revolt. Singer Chappell Roan left the agency, followed by Orville Peck, Weyes Blood, and U.S. Soccer star Abby Wambach [14][15]. Wasserman stated he had "become a distraction" [16].

Systemic Failures: What Did Agencies Know?

The question of institutional responsibility extends beyond individual agents. The modeling industry has historically operated outside the labor protections afforded to other entertainment sectors. Models were classified as independent contractors rather than employees, leaving them with limited recourse against abusive intermediaries.

Next Management's claim that Kates' relationship with Epstein was "completely and absolutely unknown" to its executives strains credibility given the 5,000-plus documents linking them [8]. But proving institutional knowledge is a different matter than proving individual culpability.

A joint survey by the Model Alliance and Cornell University found that more than half of models were owed money by clients or agencies, and financial exploitation and sexual harassment remained widespread [17]. The structural dynamics that enabled Epstein's access — opaque contracts, financial dependency, and the absence of independent oversight — were features of the industry, not bugs.

Reforms Since 2019: Limited but Real

The most significant legislative achievement has been New York's Fashion Workers Act, which established workplace protections including mandatory meal breaks, overtime pay, a 20% cap on agency commissions, mandatory deal memo transparency, and protections against harassment and discrimination [18]. The Model Alliance, founded in 2012 by model and labor activist Sara Ziff, led the advocacy effort.

Earlier reforms include the Child Model Act (2013), which extended labor rights to children working as models in New York State, and California's Talent Protections Act (2018), which required agencies to educate models about sexual harassment and eating disorders [18].

Whether these measures have measurably reduced exploitation is difficult to assess. The Fashion Workers Act applies only in New York. The international nature of the modeling industry — with scouts operating across dozens of countries, as Siad's activities demonstrate — means that domestic legislation addresses only a fraction of the problem. No federal legislation specifically regulates modeling agencies, and industry trade bodies have not established binding due-diligence standards for vetting clients or contacts introduced to models.

What Remains Unknown

The DOJ has released 3.5 million of an estimated 6 million pages of responsive documents [1]. Congressional oversight has raised questions about why only half the material has been published, and whether the remaining pages contain additional evidence of modeling industry involvement [1].

More than 200,000 pages were redacted or withheld [1]. The identities of victims referenced in the emails remain protected by court order, making it difficult to determine how many women were introduced to Epstein through professional modeling channels and what happened to them afterward.

The Elkholy, Kates, and Siad revelations may represent the visible portion of a larger pattern. As journalists, researchers, and prosecutors continue to work through the remaining files, the full scope of the modeling industry's role in Epstein's network remains an open question — one that 3.5 million pages have only begun to answer.